The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follette

 

If you like high stakes historical fiction with some really good characters, this book is really good. Follette doesn't shy away from the nitty gritty of his antagonists, so some parts are so intense to read. I'm not sure how the characters got through all of these difficulties! I think it would be cool if we kept going back in time in the setting of where Kingsbridge ends up being. 

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

Part of a series or Standalone: #0 for Kingsbridge series 

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Tropes: Marriage of Convenience, The One (Actual) Religious Person, One Decent Englishman, Showing off the Research, Politicals are not for the faint of heart. 

Things I liked: The characters felt like real people trying to survive. I found myself agonizing over their tribulations and cheering them on when things seemed to be going their way. Everything was so high stakes that this book was definitely a page turner. 

Things I disliked: This is supposed to be a prequel for Pillars of Earth and while it was an amazing book I feel like they missed a good chance to really make a big deal about how Kingsbridge got its name! I was a little disappointed since it takes place way too long before Pillars to really have any of these characters connect to our future protagonists. 

Audiobook or Physical? The audiobook was good! John Lee does a really good job! 

If any animals are abused, die, or are killed in this book: One dog dies of old age 

Extras: Multiple POV's (Ragna, Aldred, and Edgar)